Ben: I knew her favorite place in Los Angeles was this beautiful house that we lived in. She’s a homebody. I was like, OK, let’s keep it simple. I’ll propose to her on the porch. I called her folks. Now I’m really nervous. I get bagels and iced coffee, and I’m dressed nice. It’s a Saturday morning.

Melissa: He keeps saying, “Melissa! Melissa!” He normally doesn’t call me Melissa. He calls me Mooch. I thought, “Is he breaking up with me? Am I in trouble?”

Ben: I lead her out on the back porch, but there’s a knock at the door. I didn’t know she had called the contractor to redo the bathroom tiles.

Melissa: I love a house project. But it was worse. I think I was switching out the toilet. That was at 9 in the morning, and it took all day.

Ben: I’m thinking, maybe I’ll take her to the dog park that we both kind of like, but I can’t ask her to marry me in a dog park. Finally, the guy leaves, and as the door shuts, she’s watching an autopsy show on TV and playing Tetris. I run at her full speed and I say, ‘Melissa will you marry me!?’

Melissa: He screamed at me like he hates me.

Ben: She drops the Tetris.

Melissa: Oh my god, I cried. He eventually said, “I’m going to need you to answer me.” I was just crying. I didn’t realize I hadn’t answered, because I was so overwhelmed.